AGE-u-cate Training Institute Blog

AGE-u-cate's CEO Pam Brandon sent each team member a jar containing one inspirational quote per week for 52 weeks.  Every Monday, we unroll our scroll and read the message to the team.  You may have seen Laura Ellen Christian on LinkedIn every Monday sharing a video reflection on her inspirational quote.

It is time to get serious about changing the onboarding process for new hires, and there is no time to lose.  Maggie Keen, Vice President of Corporate Development at MissionCare Collective delivered this impactful message for AGE-u-cate's February Virtual Road Trip entitled, "Building Culture:  Rethinking recruitment, onboarding, and retention to drive better care and a better workplace."  

Describing empathy as a lubricant creates visuals in my head like the annoying squeaky door hinge that finally gets some W-D40.  A lubricant softens rough edges, makes things work better, and a little bit goes a long way.  I think the same is true when we approach situations that we encounter in work and life from a place of empathy.  

I have experienced moments of confusion, like being on a business trip and waking up in an unfamiliar place and needing a moment to orient myself.  One time (or possibly more than once), I forgot where I parked my car at a large shopping mall.  With so many entrances to choose from, I could not remember which one I walked through to enter the mall.  Just a few weeks ago, I went through half of a day believing it was Thursday, and it was Wednesday- an entire HALF DAY!  

The 2021 winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine has been awarded to Ardem Patapoutian. PhD, a neuroscientist at Scripps Research in La Jolla, CA for discovering cell receptors that enable people to sense heat, cold, pain, touch and sound.  The award¹ is shared with David Julius, a physiologist at the University of California San Francisco.

I found advice from Forbes, dated December 31, 2018, that I believe is spot on about setting 2022 new year's resolutions, and it goes like this, "This year, set goals instead of resolutions."  

With all due respect Len King, I never knew you were this cool!  You see, my high school band director (late 1970s) directs the Arizona Swing Kings Jazz Orchestra, and is still inspiring musicians to perform at the top of their game.   He is also the founder of the Chicago Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra, back in the day.

Part of my responsibility as the VP of Grant Initiatives is to track the progress of Compassionate Touch® and Dementia Live® online coach training for the nursing homes that are participating in our Civil Monetary Penalty Grant (CMP) projects.  We have amassed an impressive list of nursing home staff in Ohio , Minnesota, North Carolina and Tennessee who have completed online training to become Compassionate Touch® and/or Dementia Live® coaches.

After months of reviewing training reports, this week I noticed something other than the number of new coaches, and that is the number of coaches since 2019 who are still with their facility.  

I need to preface by saying that this information has not been confirmed by participating facilities, but each time an email bounces back to me- the name is scratched off my list.  In Ohio, 99/124 Compassionate Touch® and 76/106 Dementia Live® coaches appear to be reachable with the same email address used to enroll in coach training, indicating retention of 79% and 71% respectively.

Admittedly, there is likely a margin of error in these numbers, but assuming a -10%, these numbers are impressive, considering the massive turnover that has occurred during the pandemic.  

Employee Engagement and Retention

While the recipe for retention is far more involved than just providing staff education, I believe I am justified in believing the human resource investment that these participating facilities made in Compassionate Touch® and Dementia Live® training may have contributed to the retention of these coaches.  Many of these coaches are still in touch with me and share their excitement about starting up training again.  

 National Commission for Quality Long Term Care, 2007

 Public Policy and Aging Report, 2017

 National Institute of Health, 2021

The above studies reveal that the reasons for voluntary separation include many factors, but lack of quality training and education, feeling ill-prepared, and absence of professional growth were consistent factors. 

Compassionate Touch® and Dementia Live® coach training is high quality, relevant and fills knowledge gaps that move the ill-prepared to a place of confidence and competence.  These programs are also utilized as career ladder opportunities in many organizations, and that number is growing.

Everyone should take a moment and think of your accomplishments over this past year- I am sure there are many.  For me,  taking stock that perhaps our work at AGE-u-cate® has helped to in some way to keep employees engaged and retained is very rewarding.

This blog title is credited to a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA).  I was enlightened after attending a symposium entitled, "The New CNA Workforce:  Frontline Lessons from the Pandemic" given by NAHCA. 

Career CNA board members and thought leaders shared their passionate pleas for significant change.  It really was quite moving, and frankly, sad.  Sad in the sense that they felt compelled to give everyone a piece of their mind about how, for decades, they have been treated by their superiors and organizational leadership.  

A stern warning was delivered, "We will not tolerate these conditions much longer", and seriously, who can blame them.

Lori Porter, Co-founder and CEO of NAHCA shared this startling reality- there are 425,000 fewer nursing home workers today than before the pandemic, and if serious change doesn't ensue immediately, this number will grow exponentially.

Why must change be driven through threats?  The answer is because nothing else seems to have worked.  

Don't think that it is only about the pay.  Yes, nursing assistants need, and deserve to make much more than they do, but what they also need is to be a valued and respected member of the team.  

I reeled hearing one CNA board member describe how in the middle of rendering care to one resident, a nurse knocked on the door to say that there are two more call lights going off and could she please hurry up. Seriously?  This unacceptable and disrespectful to the nursing assistant, and the care receiver.  

Wake up to Change

Change in this realm will include everything from a long-term national strategy to reform the long term care system to immediate, organization-specific actions.  But, one CNA board member laid it out, "We need to get back to the basics, and re-set."  My ears perked up, because this exact phrase has been our mantra at AGE-u-cate for months.   

We simply must take care of the caregivers, so that they can give their best to their care receivers.  The basics include respect, dignity, and appreciation for all.  When we get back to the basics, we can begin to rebuild a healthy organizational culture. 

It will be up to leaders to work in tandem with all employees create the path to a healthy culture.  Listen to what your staff have to say- you may be surprised how much thought they are giving to the issues at hand, because they deeply care.  So many ideas were shared, but one that stood out to me is the desire for more education and training that grows skills and leads to advancement.  The lack of a career ladder for CNAs is a detriment to the future of this workforce.

I heard so many great ideas from these passionate CNA thought-leaders and I crave more conversation.  We have to give them what they need, so I am grateful that NAHCA Board Chair Sherry Perry has agreed to meet with me next week to continue the conversation.   Sherry's profile on the NAHCA website includes this statement:

"Being a member of NAHCA has inspired me to be the best CNA I can be.  It’s helped me to realize that my voice can make a difference not only for other CNAs but most importantly the elders we care for.”

Thank you Sherry and to your colleagues for speaking your voice- I hope you know that you were heard by many, and I am honored to have been included.

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